PAX East: Hands-on Layers of Fear 2

Having coveredLayers of Fear 2 when its trailer first dropped in early October of 2018, it was one of the demo’s I knew I wanted to play on the PAX East Expo floor. And it was everything and more than what was expected.

Tony Todd still has his role in the story, going beyond the role of just a narrator to the role of The Director. Not much is known about this character, other than that it’s the one constant that keeps showing up in The Actor’s time on this ship. However, with the addition of The Director, there was a new character added.

This is a young woman who seems to have some type of connection to The Actor. She is represented with a trail of apples through the game leading you towards certain sections as well as a voice through a radio, a shouting voice when you crush apples, and a memory during a very creepy scene with arms. It is possible she’s part of The Actor’s trauma that haunts him to this day.

Speaking of things that haunt the main character, a new threat has finally emerged, and it’s not The Director as so many people had expected. It is simply known as The Formless Man, as was revealed in the Layers of Fear 2 panel Saturday night, and that Formless Man is the main threat and antagonist through the Actor’s journey.

The call backs to classic films were all there, something as a way to use the style and feel rather than a complete mimic. In the panel as well, the developers listed off a number of classic film titles, though the only one I managed to write down was Nosferatu (1922). But there were many more all within that black and white era of film. Which, in the demo, showed as several parts moved into black and white.

During the panel, Bloober Team and Gun Media showed off the most recent dev diary for Layers of Fear 2 which showed off some of the sound design (which was spectacular in the demo), and what they did to create it. They then proceeded to play through the demo and answer questions about the game. One of the other things that people were questioning was how much connection there is between the first and second games. The developers stated that there is no direct correlation. However, without giving any spoilers, there would be a couple callbacks to the first game. So it is possible that there will be some secret nods, or less-than secret nods.

Layers of Fear 2 is set for the 2019 window and will be available for PC, Xbox One, and PS4 for $29.99 USD.